Libertas

My English Students at Prince of Songkla University

The ideal way to leave is to have a business that can fund your life overseas. However, many people do not have that yet, and you may feel time is running out. If that’s your situation, then you might do what I did ten years ago. I hadn’t planned on it or thought it out, but if I had to get out fast and didn’t have any job or contacts, I would take a TEFL course. You will not make much money teaching English overseas, unless you go to Japan or the Middle East, but you can survive.

The advantages of taking a course is that it will give you a skill to fall back on while overseas. More importantly, it will give you some time to make important contacts and learn about the community. Though I don’t need to take another TEFL course, if I were to choose to go someplace new, I might take a language course in new country that I was thinking about moving to. Why? I don’t like the idea of just showing up and starting out, unless I already have a job. If I don’t have one already lined up, then how would I meet people or find jobs? Some people have no problem meeting people and finding work, but I’m too shy, I wouldn’t know where to meet people or how to make contacts to find work. Going to a language school, however, solves a lot of those problems.

Private language schools, including those that offer TEFL courses, frequently will pick you up at the airport and provide some type of housing. They might have rooms at the school, home stays with local families, or at least give you some local inexpensive hotels nearby to stay at.

In Thailand, there was a hotel next door to the school and it was only $100 per month. No air conditioning and it was in Thailand, but it was clean, safe and nearby. They also didn’t tell me about the construction on the other side of the hotel, on my side of the building, but then I didn’t need an alarm clock, and it was impossible to sleep in and miss class.

In Mexico, the language school had rooms at the school, and they had a list of local families that provided room and board. I tried to be cheap and stay at the school, but the bathroom was gross and the room was cold. I moved into a local home and had a blast. The lady that owned the house and her maid were great friends and great cooks. It was one of the best experiences I’ve had.

In both cases, the schools helped me find inexpensive places to stay. Now it’s possible to do that on your own, but then you still have the problem of finding work. The TEFL certificate will help you get a teaching job, but the school and TEFL instructors will help you with advice on schools and where to look for a job. The time you spend attending classes will help you make other contacts with expatriates and locals and give you a feel for the community.

I don’t see how I could do that on my own just showing up. Of course there’s the Internet and there are expatriate online communities, so there’s always a way. There’s no perfect way, but if you’re a coward and short on money this is the way I’d go.

A TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course is the basic course on how to teach English to non-native English students. Sometimes it’s called TESL (Teaching English as Second Language), but they are all basically the same. The most well known courses are the Cambridge and Trinity courses, but there are many others that are accepted. You will need to make sure that the course is for 120 hours and that the course requires you to do some live teaching. Many schools will not accept an online course or any course less than 120 hours.

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